Just a photoblog to celebrate life in all its mundane, silly, random and amazing glory... :)

Friday, December 31, 2010

Day 365: so it ends...

It's 8:30 p.m. here on this side of the hemisphere, which means my year is almost over... I'm waiting for the rest of the family to come over for dinner and then we can ring in the new year together for the first time in soooo many years (minus my sister though. poopoo, i wish she and her family were here)...

Sitting here, surrounded by so many people I love and looking back at this year that had started out so seemingly rough, it's amazing to see what's happened in the past 365 days... it really feels like I went on a journey to find my happiness only to realize that it truly does just creep on you when you aren't looking... the secret is just as Lloyd Dobler suggested: "Why can't you be in a good mood? How hard is it to decide to be in a good mood and be in a good mood once in a while?"

I found that my year may not have been as great as it was if it weren't for the perspective I chose to have; to decide that there were so many more blessings in my life than not; to keep moving and keep living and to embrace every opportunity I could.

This year, I learned to dance Bollywood style (and performed for the first time in public!), tried exotic dancing, burlesque dancing (do you see a dancing pattern here? lol), worked at a street fair, went to bartending school, did two photoshoots, met a bunch of strangers (including one who ended up being the man I love most in the world...yes, you can barf now at my grossness), climbed the Rockefeller center (again! And in much better time!), saw 311 live for the first time in my life (sheer heaven!), got my first tattoo, flew 30 hours across the world to see my family (twice!) and just...lived life!

I discovered even more about the world and myself (both bad and good) and fell in love. I've stood up for myself and for what I believe in; I've learned to follow my heart and the beat of my own drum...and found that life is everything about what you make of it.

Happiness can't be found in a single person or a thing or accomplishment. Like life, it's a series of moments where the beauty and chaos of the wholefar outshines each independently.

My very first entry of 2010 had a quote from Hemingway:"The world breaks everyone and afterward many are stronger at the broken places."...he was right, you know. :)

I started the year giving the 2009 the stinkeye and am now ending the year with nothing but smiles. :)

2011 starts in just a few hours, and I suppose a new Day 1 starts all over again since I can't imagine not doing a photoblog...

But for the next few hours...

Here is to 2010, the life I lived, the people I spent it with, and all the asskicking I did!